Saw (2004) - Wan and Whannell's landmark horror beast

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+ Best Horror Movie of the Year

A terrified woman wearing a contraption that doesn't appear benign around her head, encompassed in darkness, and the curt title in screaming red color makes up this striking poster for James Wan's Saw

Two men wake up in a large, dilapidated bathroom, accompanied by a corpse. They are chained but learn through clues that the one responsible for their situation want them to fight each other. - But there is more to it than meets the eye in this sadistic puzzle...

Saw is written by writer/star Leigh Whannell (Insidious (2010)), with great Malaysian director James Wan (Furious 7 (2015)) contributing story elements.
An outstanding, brutal horror, Saw was also a game-changer for the modern horror genre. Despite the common conception, Saw actually doesn't have enough gore to qualify as a gore movie; but it did inspire a wave of other torture-filled gore movies that tried to copy its rapid-fire, flickering editing style. That style isn't my cup of tea, but Wan and editor Kevin Greutert (The Strangers (2008)) get the technique - along with many of the other ploys of Saw, - to work in their own right here in a plot that's rich on horror ideas and enthusiasm about the genre.
As the two central men in the bathroom, Cary Elwes (Indiscretion (2016)) is nearly unrecognizable, and Whannell is intense.
The lies run thick in Saw, and the film doesn't inspire feelings of great human warmth, but as horror it is excellent. The reveal in the film's end is fantastic, and the theme from Charlie Clouser's (The Collection (2012)) score is exemplary and helps elevate the entire film. Saw is a solid horror-thriller ride.

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Saw III (2006) - Good performances in Bousman's grisly third trappings (story contributor)

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Listen to Clouser's phenomenal theme Hello Zep from the film in this video

Cost: 1.2 mil. $
Box office: 103.9 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 86.58 times its cost)
[Saw premiered 19 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 103 minutes. Inspired by Pi (1998) and The Blair Witch Project (1999), Wan and Whannell set out after completing film school in Australia to make a low-budget feature primarily set in a single location. Not securing finance in Australia, they traveled to Los Angeles and shot a 7-minute short for 5k $ around the 'jaw trap scene' from the script, with Whannell in the part wearing the trap, which helped hook talents and financiers to the movie. The two went ahead with a little independent company who promised creative control and 25 % of the net profits. Shooting took place in Los Angeles for 18 days from September - October 2003. Some of the film's style, incorporating still images for instance, was developed to cover for shortage of footage and other issues due to the short shoot and low budget. Lionsgate's initial plan to release the film direct-to-video was altered after great screening responses, and the film was edited from an NC-17 rating to get an R. It opened #3, behind holdover hit The Grudge and fellow new release Ray to an 18.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another week in the top 5 (#4) and grossed 56 mil. $, including a 800k $ gross from a domestic 10th anniversary re-release (53.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 12.6 mil. $ (12.1 %) and Italy with 6.4 mil. $ (6.2 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2/4 star review, translating to 3 notches harder than this one. The film made in excess of 89.1 mil. $ on domestic home video sales and rentals. It spurred a franchise of 7 sequels (2005-2017) and an 8th, a reboot, in the making currently for a 2020 release date. - All of the films have been wildly commercially successful, with only Saw VI (2009) making less than the first film (68.2 mil. $). Wan returned with Dead Silence (2007). Elwes returned in American Crime (2004, video) and theatrically in Ella Enchanted (2004); Danny Glover (Toxin (2015)) in The Cookout (2004); and Monica Potter (Parenthood (2010-15)) in 4 TV credits before her theatrical return in Lower Learning (2008). Saw is rotten at 49 % with a 5.53/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Saw?

Saw III (2006) - Good performances in Bousman's grisly third trappings

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+ Best Gore Movie of the Year

Unauthorized dental procedures are promised on this unpleasant poster for Darren Lynn Bousman's Saw III

The vengeful Jigsaw killer is free again, but dying from cancer. Assisted by sadistic ex-junkie Amanda, he continues his Christmas games of orchestrating general mayhem; this time focusing on a revenge-set father of a boy killed by a drunk driver, as well as his own head tumor operating doctor.

Saw III is written by Leigh Whannell (The Mule (2014)), with James Wan (Stygian (2000)) contributing story elements, and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II (2005)).
Tobin Bell (Sophie's Choice (1982)) returns as the severely self-important, power-tripping super-sadist Jigsaw, and he and Shawnee Smith (The Almost Guys (2004)) are both credible as mad psychopaths. Angus Macfadyen (Alias (2005-06)) uses a gifted performance to make the vindictive father Jeff become an exciting character to follow: Can he forgive this or that person? And in time?
The traps are inventive and as gruesome as ever, SPOILER particularly the 'rotten pig grinder' and the so-called 'rack trap' are macabre and affecting. But also a hook trap in the beginning is truly hard to watch.
The narrative style is still not based on building scary, intense atmospheres, but instead on attacking with horror and fast cutting without stop. The dark, tawdry, hopeless aesthetic is also carried on as a torch, and in this entry we are led on many a flashback goose chase, which is somewhat confusing.
Saw III is generally good for fans of the horror franchise. SPOILER The ending invents an outer twist layer, which is very hard to believe in, (if Jigsaw is maintained as a man and not the devil), and it cannot avoid feeling anti-climactic, - although it does effectively plug a fourth chapter in the series.

 

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2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Watch a clip from the film here

Cost: 10 mil. $
Box office: 164.8 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 16.48 times its cost)
[Saw III premiered 26 October (Slovenia) and runs 108 minutes. Development started immediately following the successful opening of Saw II (2005). Shooting took place for 27 days in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The bathroom set used in Scary Movie 4 (2006) to parody Saw was used. The pig carcasses were made of foam, latex and rubber, and covered in live, disinfected maggots and honey. The budget was significantly increased; from Saw's (2004) 1.2 mil. $ and Saw II's (2005) 4 mil. $. The film opened #1 to a 33.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weeks in the top 5 (#4-#5) and grossed 80.2 mil. $ (48.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 16.7 mil. $ (10.1 %) and Germany with 7.5 mil. $ (4.6 % ). The film is the highest-grossing over-all in the franchise, which now spans 8 films. To market the film, Lionsgate produced 1,000 posters that were colored with printing ink mixed with a small amount of Bell's actual blood. Blood drives were also pushed at some theaters as part of the marketing, which collected more than 23,000 pints of blood. The film sold more than 2.5 mil. units at the North-American home video market, accruing more than 25.77 mil. $ more. The Saw franchise ended with Jigsaw (2017), but is set to be rebooted with Organ Donor (2020), directed by Bousman, based on a story by comedian Chris Rock, starring Rock and Samuel L. Jackson. Bousman returned with Repo! The Genetic Opera (2006, short) and theatrically with Saw IV (2007). Bell returned in 2 videos and a TV-series before he hit theaters again in Boogeyman 2 (2007) - and later that year in Buried Alive (2007) and Saw IV. Saw III is rotten at 29 % with a 4.23/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Saw III?